Nuke, GodRays and Macro focus

Our first composition using NUKE!

Matt Cameron took us through this step by step, using the render passes that we achieved over night.

(The render of this sequence, about 77 frames in total, took about 2 hours, using 5 computers)

Matt then showed us different nodes to apply to these render passes in Nuke.

The focus depth on the ZDepth was adjusted, to show the trolls in the background out of focus. I found this staggering to watch, as it completed adjusted the scene, as if we were viewing it through a macro lens; making the toys really shrink down in size...

My favourite node label today.

God Rays! 

I cannot wait to apply these to the reverse shot of He-Man as he is backlit by sunshing pouring through the windows...

I would definitely like to test some GodRays for my final film, and the backlit ice figures!!

Lighting in Maya

Creating the lighting for shots 00, 04 and 05; using a selection of direction, point and spot lights, plus an AO volume plane which gives some glow....

These images show us all using Maya, which will then be imported into NUKE for some magic!

Nuke Compositing, inteface and concealing tracking markers

Nuke tutorial and training with Matt Cameron!

Wow, Nuke is brilliant and I love the interface....very simple, flow diagrams, that develop a tree of nodes...and nothing at all buried or hidden.

We were given a sample of footage from 'Ratking'. The footage was of a hysterical pregnant woman, whose belly was full of writhing rats, pushing and moving under her skin.

Creepy.

This effect was achieved by placing a  'plastic' pregnant stomach on the actress.

A shadow map of moving rat feet was created, by placing real live rats on top of lycra stretchy fabric, and filming them running around from the underside.

Nuke was used to composite both the live action and shadow map sequences and included the use of tracking markers.

Our task today was to get to know the Nuke interface and to mask out the tracking markers (black dots)

 1. The Nuke Interface.
Showing imported 'read' live action footage (already including the shadow map of the running rats). The 'A' output of the 'read' footage is then connected onto a 'Tracker' node (peach rectangle ringed by the smaller red circle)
The 'A' output from the 'Tracker' node is then connected to the 'Viewer' node below.

2. We then created a 'constant' node (thin red circle with grip points), to cover the black tracker. There is the simple option of creating just a plain colour, or a cloned colour, which completely matches to the varying pixel colours. The areas ringed in yellow, show a keyframe on the timeline (left) and where it appears in the properties box on the right.

3. Using a  'background' node (as shown as a lilac rectangle) to collectively present all items clearly, that belong in a certain part of the script. This is brilliantly simple and what a great tool, especially when working in a team. The importance of labeling, and being clear when passing on the job to the next person is crucial.

 4. Adding a 'grain' node (circled in yellow below the lilac rectangle) and showing the sliding values on the right (also circled in yellow) for the RGB channels. B (Blue) seemed to show the most grain...

Nuke Tutorials - and the logic of node based compositing

Well from the tutorials I've watched so far, the logic of node based compositing seems pretty straightforward; much like the rigging hierarchy in the outliner in Maya... very satisfying and clear cut...and I really like that it's very visual...

I am intrigued to know more about the merging of A and B inputs, and why there are additional 'A' input options, such as A1, A2, A3 etc...rather than just utilising the alphabet in chronological order...

Really looking forward to the Nuke class tomorrow, where more will be revealed! In the meantime I discovered that Nuke came out in the early 1990's and was the 'New Compositing' software...hence the name 'Nuke'

Shot 32 - animation and Axis update

Fun today doing some simple animation for 'Dean and his cheating girlfriend!'

We've had some very constructive feedback from Axis about the lighting; so we need to have a look at what dramatic shadows and sunlight we can introduce, so we can capture the feel of our original concept artwork

Always good to keep going back to see what the original intention was...to make sure we are keeping in line with the original concept and proposed deliverables....

                     

Henry Moore Institute Leeds - John Latham 'A lesson in Sculpture' exhibition - Critical Review

Here is an extract from the outline of the John Latham  'A lesson in Sculpture' exhibition, currently on show at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds.

"A Lesson in Sculpture with John Latham addresses his visionary contribution to the study of sculpture, bringing sixteen works by Latham, spanning 1958 to 2005, into conversation with sixteen sculptures by artists working across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries."


I find it interesting to note, that I needed to look up some information, after I had attended the exhibition, to discover what exactly it was about; and what I had been looking at...(it reminds me of the time that I stood for some time, pondering the 'meaning' of  an 'installation of ever decreasing white circles' at a Damien Hirst exhibition at the Saatchi gallery in London...only to discover that I was staring at the building's air conditioning vents).

Had I been asked this weekend - what was the exhibition about? I would have answered. Assorted 3D studies and installations of carbon based materials; such as books, coal, paint, planet earth.

I really didn't pick up any idea (apart from the fact that the gallery was named after Henry Moore) that there may be a link towards sculpture.

The most interesting thing was an obscure quote on the wall - applied in vinyl - making a reference to God. And also a glimpse of Yves Klein blue, that appeared in a scientific study....I did rather like the books that were jammed between two vertical panes of glass; and suppose that this was representative, on some level, of sculpture....

The best part, for me, was a pendant light fitting. which shone in the starkness of it all. However, on reflection, this, like my Saatchi experience, could have been part of the furniture

Revised shot sequence for shots 00 & 01; now combined. Going Live!

More practice with Premiere and inserting some opening titles (png text files,  roughed out in Photoshop); to give us an idea of the pacing of the opening sequence.

The final graphics are in the process of being created, but this will give us a good indication in the meantime, of placing, size, timing etc....

The idea of revisiting the Previs file, was to see if the opening frame, showing the toys in a heap, would still work well as a static shot. The original drawn story boards showed two shots; one wide and one close up. This new idea incorporated both shots and could be edited into one static shot that lasts a couple of seconds.

The advantage being, that we only need to render out one frame and can then repeat this for the remainder of the sequence; saving us a lot of time with the render for his particular shot.

I then played around with moving the audio and associated images closer together, to snap up the timing...

Original establishing shot (00), on the drawn storyboards.

 Original shot 01

New sequence, showing the bew static rendered frame 00, which incorporates both shots

Robot 'LIAR' - Photoshop graphics

Last year I played around in Photoshop creating 'Neon' effects...and this came in handy this weekend, for creation of the graphics on the Robot's chest...
The text flashes 'LIAR' on the robot...as Jeremy Kyle (He-Man) says "Test Says You're a Liar!"

TIFF file for upload onto the Robot

Mock ups in Photoshop to compare different fonts

Shots 07 & 8 - avoiding a 'jump cut' - Going Live

GoingLive - Toys

I had another look at shots 7 & 8 this weekend and reworked the camera positions and animation, to avoid the jump cut (as seen in the original frames below)
As He-Man was 'referenced' in, rather than imported for shot 8, I simply borrowed the model from shot 7 - so I could position the angles, ready for the correct He-Man to be inserted in...

New shots 7 & 8

                                   

Original frames with 'jump cut'

Force of Nature by Jamie Janover - Reflective Practice

                   
Interesting reference link 'The Force of Nature' by Jamie Janover...
Inspiration ideas for the closing frames of my final film....will work on how I can collectively put similar images into an idea for the final sequence...


                         

Creating face controllers to drive blend shapes!

Great lesson today creating face controllers, in the perspective model space, using Nurbs Curves (rectangles, circles and text) to control each facial expression or lip sync phoneme shape...

The controllers  then act as 'drivers' to the 'driven' blend shapes.

This gives two advantages.

One: The controllers are clearly visible in the viewport and are a simple representation of the blend shape command interface.

Two: The controllers are clearly visible in the graph editor, and that, in turn, the animation of the blend shapes is far easier to amend in the graph editor; as each one can be selected individually in the graph and editing accordingly.

I am finding rigging to be very logical, and enjoyable in equal measure to animating!!

Above:

Nurbs Curves used to create the 'rectangular' controller box and 'circle' controller. The circle was then limited in it's translation Y axis, which meant that it's position would extend either above or below the box, plus it's values were restricted and locked. '0' being the lowest position and '1' being it's top most position.

The pink circled areas indicated the controller, corresponding blend shape values, and the 'Set Driven Key' option box.

Above:

Constraining and parenting the controller to the head joint (highlighted in green)

Above:
Tear off copy of camera viewport, shown on the right. This was not a 'standard' camera view. We created a 'facial camera' and then constrained the camera (in the perspective viewport) to the controller, meaning that when the head was rotated, that the camera view of the head appeared to remain static and in line with the head....only the body appeared to move. This would be utilised if creating an animated scene and a close up of the face was desired simultaneously...

In Her Shoes - critical review

So movie number 2 on a Trans-Atlantic flight...

'In Her Shoes'...

I think these two images, from a colour script point of view, sum up the emotional journey that the two sisters go on. Darkness and separation, to light and connection.

There's some great moments of personal and sibling frustration throughout, and I particularly like the straightforward yet slightly cynical nature of the grandmother, played by Shirley Maclaine.

I found this film to be hopeful and to carry some depth and weight, when dealing with a storyline of personal growth...

It's visually very pleasing too...particularly the alfresco informal wedding scene at the end!

Royal Scottish National Orchestra - Prokofiev critical review

Critical Review...

Last night we had the treat of seeing and hearing the Royal Scottish National Orchestra play at the Perth Concert halls...

The movements played were:

                Rachmaninov: Caprice bohémienProkofiev: Piano Concerto No.4 (for the Left Hand) Prokofiev: Suite from ‘Cinderella

Surprisingly, given  that there was a deliberate absence of set design, I found the entire evening very interesting from a visual perspective!

The blonde wood of the concert hall was bright and warm against the gloss black of the evening dresses, coats and tails and grand piano's.

The finishes of the instruments, wood, chrome plate, brass were stunning and the whole look and feel of the room was completely classic and timeless....

The music quality was breathtaking....and not a microphone in sight....

Even the cacophonous screaming tension of the violins, as the 'clock' (tubular bell and percussion) struck Cinderella's midnight, was spectacular to listen to....

I was also struck by how much an orchestra is a team. It reminded me of how we are currently working on our Going Live animation...and that each of us has taken an element of lip sync or animation and it's all coming together as a complete piece...

I like the image of the empty concert hall. The orchestra and the audience came together for a moment in time last night and created something that could only be captured exactly that way once.

And then we all disappeared.....

Magic.

Rendering and toy set up for the establishing shot - Going Live

Now this was fun!!

I finished off the lip sync and secondary animations for shots 24, 26 and 27a today, and then began to assemble and place the 3D model toys, in Maya, to create a heap of toys for our establishing shot. We realised that we can create a sharp opening shot, which combines both the first and second shots in our 'storyboard' sketches, currently on the PreVis.

It was fun to create He-Man, in an ungainly position, unceromiously dumped onto a wooden hoop toy post! A real contrast to when he is marching about being a big know it all....

Great to see the intial renders, showing natural daylight in the sitting room. A fellow student, Stathis, has been looking at tutorials and working with Sang at the University, and the output renders are great to see. Very realistic!

Maya interface, showing a locked off camera shot.

Rendered view, including lighting. More positioning to be completed tomorrow, but a good indicator of the final feel of the toys as a group.

Progressed animated PreVis and lip sync - Going Live

Here's how our Jeremy Kyle show animation is coming along...
great to begin to see the pace of the edit and how the shot sequence is shaping up...  
Primary and secondary animation is about 80% completed and we are now in the rendering process....

                      

The Imitation Game - Critical Review

So this past week was a blast in the USA...a reunion of friends. Apart from noticing that Oregon looks very much like a 1:25 scale version of a 1:50 scale Scotland the weather was similar too...

One of the advantages of flying, apart from seeing the Northern Lights from the plane, was time to watch a handful of movies...

First up over Greenland, was 'The Imitation Game'.

I think the movie poster says it all. I really like that the lead character is shown facing away from the audience, fully absorbed in his obsession.

Moments of this film, which is a true story about the genius Alan Turing, who cracked the Enigma code during WWII, were reminiscent of 'A Beautiful Mind'. The lead was not implied as being insane, but certainly gifted in an extraordinary way.  The acting was very convincing and the art direction was invisible. Always, a good sign that the design is well thought out. The sets and locations were pretty subdued both in terms of lighting and colour, and this really added to the authenticity....

 

The real Alan Turing

Critical review - The Transport Museum in Glasgow, Zaha Hadid and the Tall Ship

I spent the weekend in Glasgow and visited the Transport Museum, designed by Zaha Hadid.....and the Tall Ship 'Glenlee' which is situated directly outside the entrance of the museum.

The two attractions, look at first sight, as if they have nothing in common....but having found the concept top shot (as below) I can see how the Transport Museum looks to be an interpretation of waves, water and refracted light, leading to the shore where the boat is moored.

 I didn't get that impression whilst inside the building, but the concept, now having seen the exterior top view, makes more sense.

First we had a look around the Tall Ship, which is moored directly adjacent to the entrance of the museum. It reminded me of the contrast of the Royal Yacht in Leith, being situated directly alongside the Debenhams department store!

I was taken aback once we had gone below deck, as the space was enormous, and the curvature of the hull was extensive. The interior was so huge compared to the size of the deck that I wasn't entirely convinced that we were still inside the actual boat. Dr Who's Tardis came to mind.

The smell of varnish was wonderful, and I loved the contrast of one minute being surrounded by waxed timber, wooden beams, sugar sacks and jute, to the next minute being surrounded by molded ceiling panels, glass and steel.

The interior of the Transport Museum has been treated in a very specific pale green. All moldings, handrails, vents, air conditioning panels, conduit, ceiling panels, no matter what the finish, are all coated in the exact same colour.....pale Hospital Green. The colour reminded me of the 1920's and 1930's and sanitoriums and war museums. Interested to note that this colour, whilst definitely making a statement, didn't detract from the displays. The atmosphere it created only added to the 'historical' context of the transport showcased inside - and made the exterior completely contrast to the interior.

I particularly love this shot, where the Tall Ship is reflected in the glass, and the 'waves' (almost like sound waves, or heartbeat waves) crash over the top....